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Rdk Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Rdk Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$12M
Granted FY2024still arriving
190
Grants FY2024still arriving
34
States reached
$825k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Arts & Culture$13MEducation$933kPhilanthropy$783kCivil Rights$340kEnvironment$225kHuman Services$208kCommunity Improvement$160kSocial Science$120kOther$0
02FY2024 · 190 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 190 grants below total $11,061,700, the rows itemized in this filing. The $12,431,700 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $1,370,000 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k4 grants · $17k
  • $10k–50k69 grants · $1.6M
  • $50k–250k115 grants · $8.1M
  • $250k+2 grants · $1.3M
$50,000
Median grant
34
States reached
$384M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
John Michael Kohler Arts Center$825,000
Creation and Preservation Partners Inc.$500,000
Social Good Fund Inc$200,000
Headlands Center for the Arts$200,000
Social Good Fund Inc$200,000
Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts$200,000
The W O W Project Inc$200,000
Afro Charities Inc$175,000
SOMArts$175,000
Social Good Fund Inc$150,000
Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples Inc.$150,000
Burnaway Inc$125,000
Fractured Atlas, Inc.$125,000
Black School Inc$120,000
Cactus Plus Corporation$100,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–21) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 12% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%SMITH COLLEGE: $30k → 12%MONROE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $40k → 10%LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY: $30k → 7%PECATONIA EDUCATION CHAR FDN INC: $35k → 9%AMERICAN PLAYERS THEATRE: $25k → 9%LAKELAND UNIVERSITY: $25k → 9%FRIENDS OF PRAIRIE MOON: $40k → 10%PECATONICA FOUNDATION: $55k → 10%WIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: $20k → 10%FRIENDS ON FRED SMITH: $50k → 12%MONROE COUNTY HISTORY ROOM: $40k → 14%MILWAUKEE INSTITUTE OF ART AND DESIGN: $25k → 17%GEORGES RIVER LAND TRUST: $45k → 11%SMITH COLLEGE: $20k → 12%MONROE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $35k → 10%PECATONIA EDUCATION CHAR FDN INC: $20k → 9%AMERICAN PLAYERS THEATRE: $25k → 9%PLYMOUTH PUBLIC SCHOOLS: $20k → 9%FRIENDS OF PRAIRIE MOON: $40k → 10%PECATONICA FOUNDATION: $50k → 10%FRIENDS OF FRED SMITH: $50k → 12%MONROE CTY LOCAL HISTORY: $20k → 14%SMITH COLLEGE: $20k → 12%ALDO LEOPOLD FOUNDATION: $25k → 9%FRIENDS OF PRAIRIE MOON: $40k → 10%BELOIT COLLEGE: $40k → 10%FRIENDS OF FRED SMITH: $40k → 12%ALDO LEOPOLD FOUNDATION: $25k → 9%FRIENDS OF PRAIRIE MOON: $22k → 10%BELOIT COLLEGE: $23k → 10%WISCONSIN HISTORICAL FOUNDATION: $60k → 10%FRIENDS OF FRED SMITH: $25k → 12%WISCONSIN HISTORICAL FOUNDATION: $25k → 10%WIS HISTORICAL FDN: $20k → 10%CREATION & PRESERVATION PARTNERS: $620k → 9%CREATION & PRESERVATION PARTNERS: $600k → 9%EDGEWOOD COLLEGE: $50k → 10%CREATION & PRESERVATION PARTNERS: $600k → 9%EDGEWOOD COLLEGE: $50k → 10%CREATION & PRESERVATION PARTNERS: $520k → 9%EDGEWOOD COLLEGE: $40k → 10%JOHN MICHAEL KOHLER ARTS CENTER: $160k → 9%EDGEWOOD COLLEGE: $25k → 10%JOHN MICHAEL KOHLER ARTS CENTER: $160k → 9%JOHN MICHAEL KOHLER ARTS CENTER: $160k → 9%JOHN MICHAEL KOHLER ARTS CENTER: $160k → 9%KOHLER PUBLIC SCHOOLS: $45k → 9%KOHLER PUBLIC SCHOOLS: $30k → 9%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

ME
MN
IL
WI
NY
OH
CA
CO
KS
NC
LA
GA
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

40%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$6.0M · 44 repeat orgs$9.2M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +28% since the first grant, against +6% for those funded once.

44 repeat relationships: 24 still active in FY2024, 20 since wound down; 137 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

44
13

Total granted

$6.0M
$175k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+28%
+6%

Still filing today

68%
15%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 13% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $9.0M went to new ones.

50%100%’17’19’20’21’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’19’20’21’24
Arts & CultureEducationEnvironmentCommunity ImprovementPhilanthropyCivil RightsOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • CA
    CREATION AND PRESERVATION PARTNERS INC
    5× · 2017–2024 · $2.8M · revenue +296% · 94% of their budget
  • FO
    FRIENDS OF FRED SMITH INC
    5× · 2017–2024 · $240k · revenue +39% · 49% of their budget
  • EDGEWOOD UNIVERSITY INC
    5× · 2017–2024 · $240k · revenue +10%

Funded once

  • MC
    MONROE COUNTY HISTORY ROOM
    one grant, 2020 · $40k
  • LU
    LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2021 · $30k
  • MC
    MONROE CTY LOCAL HISTORY
    one grant, 2017 · $20k
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Kadist Collection Manager Inc
Arts & Culture
2
Atlanta Contempory Art Center Inc

Dedicated to the creation, presentation and advancement of contemporary art through its exhibitions, educational programming and studio art program.

Arts & Culture
3
Kansas City Artists Coalition Inc

The kansas city atrtists coalition is a nonprofit organization that promotes visual arts awareness

Arts & Culture
4
(402) Arts Collective

Cultivating a vibrant network of artists who create community and impact culture.

Arts & Culture
5
Artnoir Inc

ARTNOIR is a global collective and a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with a mission to celebrate and highlight the work of creatives of color from around the world while catalyzing cultural equity across the arts and culture industries.…

Arts & Culture
6
Artists Space Inc

A contemporary art space that provides direct support to artists through exhibition opportunities, live commissions, and public programs. in recent years, the exhibition program has grown to present six major exhibitions per year…

Arts & Culture
7
The Luminary Inc

The luminary is a nonprofit art space in st. louis that supports artists and the community through exhibitions, residencies, grants, and public programs. we provide time, space, and resources for creative work and create opportunities for…

Arts & Culture
8
The Bronx Council On the Arts Incorporated

A pioneering advocate for cultural equity, the bronx council on the arts nurtures the development of diverse artists and arts organizations and build strong cultural connections in and beyond the bronx.

Arts & Culture
9
Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts

The museum of contemporary african diasporan arts (mocada) celebrates the cultural breadth of africa and its diaspora through a diverse range of exhibitions, public art, interactive learning, media, performances, food experiences, music,…

Arts & Culture
10
Art Foundation
Arts & Culture
11
On the Boards

On the Boards' mission is to invest in leading contemporary performing artists near and far and connect them to a diverse range of communities interested in forward-thinking art and ideas.

—
12
The Artists Cooperative Residency and Exhibitions

To help artists develop, present and discuss their practices by providing forums for idea exchange, interdisciplinary collaboration and experimental projects.

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Walker Art Center; the most unlike its peers is The Andrews-Humphrey Family Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

156 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 156 of the 197 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

14
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
19
Early backer (in before they grew)
154/156
Grantees still filing
60/156
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CREATION AND PRESERVATION PARTNERS INC: $2,840,000 · Arts & CultureCREATION AND PRESERVATION PARTNERS INCJOHN MICHAEL KOHLER ARTS CENTER INC: $640,000 · Arts & CultureJOHN MICHAEL KOHLER ARTS CENTER INC+105 more: $6,420,400 · Arts & Culture+105 moreJohn Michael Kohler Arts Center: $825,000 · OtherJohn Michael Kohler Arts C…AFRO CHARITIES INC: $195,800 · Other+66 more: $2,654,700 · Other+66 moreSOCIAL GOOD FUND INC: $620,000 · EducationSOCIAL GO…EDGEWOOD UNIVERSITY INC: $240,000 · EducationEDGEWOOD …Columbus State University Foundation Inc: $120,000 · EducationColumbus …FRIENDS OF THE HARTMAN ROCK GARDEN: $75,000 · EducationFRIENDS O…Nicholls State University Foundation: $75,000 · EducationNicholls …BELOIT COLLEGE: $63,000 · EducationALVERNO COLLEGE: $60,000 · EducationAntenna: $50,000 · EducationTHE TRUSTEES OF THE SMITH COLLEGE: $50,000 · Education+2 more: $45,000 · EducationFRIENDS OF FRED SMITH INC: $240,000 · EnvironmentGeorges River Land Trust: $125,000 · EnvironmentPEARL FRYAR TOPIARY GARDEN: $50,000 · EnvironmentNATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY INC: $15,000 · EnvironmentTHE ANDREWS-HUMPHREY FAMILY FOUNDATION: $120,000 · PhilanthropyUCROSS FOUNDATION: $50,000 · PhilanthropyTHE SPRINGFIELD FOUNDATION: $13,000 · PhilanthropySEVENTH GENERATION FUND FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLES INC: $180,000 · Human ServicesMOVEMENT STRATEGY CENTER: $50,000 · Community ImprovementArab American Development Corp: $30,000 · Community ImprovementCENTRO DE ECONOMIA CREATIVA INC: $30,000 · Community Improvement
Arts & Culture$9,900,400Other$3,675,500Education$1,398,000Environment$430,000Philanthropy$183,000Human Services$180,000Community Improvement$110,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCREATION AND PRESERVATION PARTNERS INC: $2,840,000 over 5y, 94% of budgetJOHN MICHAEL KOHLER ARTS CENTER INC: $640,000 over 4y, 2.1% of budgetSOCIAL GOOD FUND INC: $620,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF FRED SMITH INC: $240,000 over 5y, 49% of budgetEDGEWOOD UNIVERSITY INC: $240,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetHEADLANDS CENTER FOR THE ARTS: $220,000 over 1y, 7.7% of budgetBEMIS CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ARTS INC: $220,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetFRIENDS OF PRAIRIE MOON: $217,000 over 5y, 50% of budgetFRACTURED ATLAS INC: $210,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetSOMArts: $205,000 over 1y, 6.4% of budgetTHE WOW PROJECT INC: $200,000 over 1y, 25% of budgetAFRO CHARITIES INC: $195,800 over 1y, 5.0% of budgetSEVENTH GENERATION FUND FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLES INC: $180,000 over 1y, 4.0% of budgetWISCONSIN HISTORICAL FOUNDATION INC: $155,000 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetTHE BLACK SCHOOL INC: $150,900 over 1y, 20% of budgetARTS AT LARGE INC: $145,000 over 3y, 8.7% of budgetGeorges River Land Trust: $125,000 over 3y, 8.9% of budgetColumbus State University Foundation Inc: $120,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetCOLEMAN CENTER BOARD OF THE CITY OF YORK TERM: $120,000 over 1y, 24% of budgetTHE ANDREWS-HUMPHREY FAMILY FOUNDATION: $120,000 over 1y, 26% of budgetThe Laundromat Project Inc: $120,000 over 1y, 5.0% of budgetCREATE WISCONSIN INC: $112,000 over 3y, 41% of budgetCactus Plus Corporation: $100,000 over 1y, 59% of budgetARTS & LITERATURE LABORATORY INC: $100,000 over 1y, 10% of budgetAmerican Players Theatre of Wisconsin Inc: $100,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetHmong American Center Inc: $100,000 over 1y, 5.3% of budgetRAIR INC: $100,000 over 1y, 15% of budgetGEEX INC: $100,000 over 1y, 59% of budgetQCC The Center for Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Art & Culture: $100,000 over 1y, 7.8% of budgetWOODLAND PATTERN INC: $80,000 over 3y, 4.8% of budgetYOUNG OF HEART WORKSHOP: $80,000 over 1y, 9.9% of budgetMONROE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $75,000 over 2y, 73% of budgetVOLLIS SIMPSON WHIRLIGIG PARK AND MUSEUM: $75,000 over 1y, 17% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE HARTMAN ROCK GARDEN: $75,000 over 1y, 41% of budgetNicholls State University Foundation: $75,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetPECATONICA EDUCATIONAL CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC: $75,000 over 1y, 73% of budgetTOSHIKO TAKAEZU FOUNDATION INC: $70,000 over 1y, 17% of budgetALDO LEOPOLD FOUNDATION INC: $70,000 over 4y, 1.2% of budgetBELOIT COLLEGE: $63,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetALVERNO COLLEGE: $60,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSIXTY INCHES FROM CENTER NFP: $60,000 over 1y, 5.1% of budgetJunior High Incorporated: $60,000 over 1y, 21% of budgetIntersection for the Arts: $50,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetNOAH PURIFOY FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 23% of budgetINTERNATIONAL PRINT CENTER NEW YORK: $50,000 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetHALEAKALA INC: $50,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetYOUNG ASPIRATIONS YOUNG ARTISTS INC: $50,000 over 1y, 6.5% of budgetBALLETX: $50,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

The Andy Warhol Found…The Andrew W Mellon F…Kohler Foundation IncGreater Milwaukee Fou…Richard and Ethel Her…Herbert H Kohl Charit…Wisconsin Humanities …Terra Foundation for …Green Bay Packers Fou…Robert Rauschenberg F…The Ford FoundationVia Art Fund Inc
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts IncNY63.1× affinity30 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Inc · The Andrew W Mellon Foundation · Kohler Foundation Inc · Greater Milwaukee Foundation Inc · Richard and Ethel Herzfeld Foundation Inc · Herbert H Kohl Charities Inc · Wisconsin Humanities Council Inc · Terra Foundation for American Art · Green Bay Packers Foundation · Robert Rauschenberg Foundation · The Ford Foundation · Via Art Fund Inc

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Rdk Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Rdk Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    10report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Rdk Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Rdk Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

    Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 197 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2025) is on record and reports $17M of grant expense with no grantee named in the published copy. A private foundation itemizes every grant it makes, so a return carrying none has filed its list as an attachment that the public copy does not include. The figures above are therefore from FY2024, the most recent year this funder’s grantee list reached the public record.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Rdk’s filings →

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home